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INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATION PLAN Bournemouth Wheels Festival Daniel Bethell, Alexandra Elderfield, Sophia Slade, Emma Butler Word count: 7,424 SADE MARKETING BOURNEMOUTH UNIVERSITY Page 1 of 41 List of Figures Figure 1: SOSTAC Model Figure 2: Bournemouth Matrix Figure 3: Internet users aged above 16 years interacting with leisure activities Figure 4: Customer Journey of attendees staying in hotels and travelling guests Figure 5: Persona 1 Figure 6: Persona 2 Figure 7: Persona 3 Page 2 of 41 List of Tables Table 1: Marketing Objectives Table 2: Project Plan Table 3: Key Performance Indicators Table 4: Marketing Budget Page 3 of 41 Executive Summary The following report represents an integrated marketing communication plan, developed by SADE Marketing, for the Bournemouth Wheels Festival 2016. The report also includes a strategy to extend the festival experience time out of the wheels festival, while still enabling the attendees to be connected with the event. The purpose of this proposal is to upsell the Wheels Festival through an analysis of the customer journey and touch points. This has identified the customers’ needs and wants which has resulted in a partnership with the festival and local hotels. In order to highlight an area of customer’s needs, an approach of different research methods were used to give a broad understanding of the Wheels Festival audience. The first point of quantitative research was based on a survey from individual attendees. Through this, a ‘Customer Journey Map’ has been created to mark the behaviour of the attendees in relation to their satisfaction. Through this analysis three SMART objectives have been established which have enabled the report to identify a strategy, as well as specific tactics and actions. Furthermore, the development of Key Purpose Indicators (KPI) have been established to track the performance of the proposal. Moreover, the report has also considered certain limitations which include excluding event attendees that are not staying in hotels along the sea front. For example, locals that return to their homes after the event for the day will not be subject to the proposal, thus will miss out on being connected with the event out of hours. Lastly, the return of investment value is predicted to be 97.5%. Page 4 of 41 Contents 1. Introduction 1.1 Intended Outcome 2. Research Methods 2.1 Bournemouth Matrix 2.2 SWOT 2.3 PEST 3. Customer Analysis 3.1 Trends 3.2 Performance 4. Customer Journey 4.1. Attendee Persona 5. Analysis of Findings 5.1 The Pitch 6. SMART Communication Objectives and Strategy 6.1 Communication Message 7. Project Plan/Tactics 8. Control 9. Promotion Strategy 9.1 Social Media 10. Marketing Budget 11. Conclusion 12. References Page 5 of 41 1. Introduction Throughout the report, it will be structured according to the SOSTAC model developed by Reed (2014) as seen in Figure 1 .Firstly; it will begin by explaining the intended outcome for the proposal developed as a result of the market research for the Bournemouth Wheels Festival. Next, the report will go through the research methods undertaken to analyse the customer journey and customer touch points. The research methods will include a customer analysis, performance analysis, SWOT and PEST, trends, and finally a Bournemouth Matrix. To continue, the report will explain the communication objectives using the acronym SMART to ensure they are specific, measureable, achievable, relevant, and time manageable. What is more, the communication strategy will then be highlighted which will aid in the development of the communication tactics. From this, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) will be shown and used later for evaluation purposes. Here, the report will highlight the communication message. Next, the report will continue by explaining the Promotional strategy with the help of a table. The promotion strategy will use both online and offline channels in order to be successfully integrated. Moreover, a plan to use social media will then be discussed as part of the promotional strategy. After this, the finances will be discussed. This will include an overview of the proposal, highlighting the expenses and income for the first year. Lastly, the report will conduct an evaluation using the ‘control’ stage of the SOSTAC model. The KPIs will be considered here to assess how successful the plan was in meeting the target to upsell the Bournemouth Wheels Festival in 2016. Page 6 of 41 Figure 1: SOSTAC Model Source: Edward, 2015 1.1 Intended Outcome The intended outcome for this report is to critically analyse the Bournemouth Wheels Festival 2015 successfully, in order to improve its performance and awareness for the coming year. This will occur through the use of a ‘Customer Journey Map’, as well as consideration of the given touch points, drawing upon specific moments that will benefit from creating a more inclusive experience; personal to the individual. Also, it is intended for this plan to successfully integrate all methods of promotion to sell the service to the target audience. This should help to increase sales and maximise cost effectiveness. As a result of this report, a clear plan will be established showing the specific steps which need to be followed in order to meet the overall communication objectives. Page 7 of 41 Finally, it is hoped the intended outcome of this integrated marketing communication plan will be favourable to the client during the pitch. 2. Research Methods The Bournemouth Wheels Festival is a three day event along the beach front. It is a new summer festival for Bournemouth; with June 2016 seeing the event for the third time. In order to understand the audience and their needs, first the festival must be critically analysed to recognise the intricacies of the market and the steps that can be taken to improve the audience’s experience. 2.1 Bournemouth Matrix The Bournemouth Matrix is a tool to analyse which location would be best to get more people connected to the festival. The matrix has two axis. The customer appeal is measured from weak to strong and the potential for development is either low, medium or high. Available services to the attendees have been categorised into Entertainment, Food and Drink, and Retail Shops. With reference to the matrix seen below, a circle has been placed according to how large the development potential and customer appeal is to each service during the Wheels Festival. The size of the circles indicate how attractive the category is to the attendees. Food and drink have been categorised as the most popular according to the qualitative research. Furthermore, the squares represent popular locations around Bournemouth during the festival. Squares have been placed on the matrix to show their customer appeal and development potential in attracting the largest amount of people during festival days. Their size represents how effective the location would be in increasing the overall performance and attendee satisfaction of the festival. According to the matrix, is it highlighted that hotels would be the most effective in reaching the largest audience of attendees during the festival. This Page 8 of 41 is supported by a study from the Bournemouth Wheels Festival Sponsorship Prospectus (2015) that “confirmed over half of the Wheels Festival visitors, travelled from outside of Dorset”. This suggests a majority of hotels within Bournemouth are fully booked over the duration of the Festival, as people wish to stay over the three days rather than travelling home. This is why it is ranked as the most effective. Figure 2: Bournemouth Matrix Source: Personal collection Page 9 of 41 2.2 SWOT The wheels festival has a number of strengths that drove 300,000 people to attend (Lets Go Out 2015) in June 2015. It can be argued that one of the main drives is that the festival is free to attend. There are extra features throughout the days and priority seating available for extra cost, however the bulk of the events, such as the monster truck displays can be attended for free. Psychology professor Barry Schwartz commented in a business article (Brad Tuttle 2011) “Free is magic. If you offer something for free, people will gladly spend money to get it”. Therefore the success of the festival in attracting attendees could be down the nature of the event. Another strength of The Wheels Festival is that it has a presence across most social media sites, such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. This allows the consumers to access useful information about the event, both prior and during, and also submerses them into the action as they are virtually inundated with photos, videos and reviews about the festival. In turn the customers will feel more involved and feel the need to include themselves with the festival through eWOM (Becker at al. 2012). Along with social media presence and a low cost, the newness of the event can also be accounted as a strength as the Wheels Festival has a fresh new appeal to both local Bournemouth residences and people travelling from further afield. However, not all Bournemouth locals will see the Wheels Festival in the same light. A weakness of the event is the impact it has on road traffic and general crowdedness of Bournemouth town centre. In the years that the event has occurred it has run for three days, prolonging the impact of the surge of people in the town. One of the main issues firstly is the number of cars on the roads as there is a large increase of vehicles trying to enter Bournemouth. This will cause annoyance in Bournemouth residence as it is likely that travelling around Bournemouth for their everyday errands by car will take longer due to delays. Along with this, parking near the beach front and town centre will cause further problems as there is limited parking for attendees travelling to the event by car. The biggest weakness that the festival may possess is a factor that is Page 10 of 41 uncontrollable- the weather. Although the festival takes place during summer time, one cannot rely on the English weather for sun or a comfortable temperature. Given that the festival and the majority of its attractions take place outside, if it was to rain on one or all of the days the event takes place then this could have a detrimental impact on the number of people attending the event. The strength of the event being free may also be a weakness as in case of unattractive weather people have no paid commitment to attend the festival. The Bournemouth Wheels Festival has a large presence, not only on social media, but also occupies a place on many tourism websites promoting events in Bournemouth. Along with these, the festival also has a specific webpage which gives people information about what to expect on the day, the time and location of attractions (Wheels Festival 2015). This gives the festival an opportunity to create promotions and deals on the website. Mintel (2015) has highlighted the prospects that doing so would create. For example, for someone hoping to attend the event they would be able to have a connection to the festival before it has even started by participating in advertised deals. This would become a fun pursuit for the customers as they interact with the website. Along with this it would also create and drive traffic the site, thus creating a ‘buzz’ around the event. Similar to the festival’s weakness of being an outside event, as the years go by its increasingly threatened by the weather. Climate change is causing an increased risk of not only altered seasons but extreme weather all year round. Extreme weather such as wind and rain would create unsuitable conditions for the event to take place and may also pose health and safety risks as attendees are vulnerable to the sea (Monfries 2013). It is likely that such weather conditions could cause a disruption to transport links, further reducing the number of visitors into Bournemouth. Although the Wheels Festival is new and exciting after only two events, figures show that the festival lost 200,000 attendees between the first and second year that it occurred (Heart 2015) (Lets Page 11 of 41 Go Out 2015). This indicates that the event may be threatened by the fact it has little history in Bournemouth and has no prestigious status. 2.3 PEST Pest Analysis is a simple but common tool used to help analyse the political, economic, socio-cultural, and technological changes within the business environment. This type of analyses in important for the companies as it helps them find business or personal opportunities that could develop the work environment, giving them an advantage against other companies. Also, it points them in the right direction by avoiding the projects that are most likely to fail. Within this specific sports event, PEST Analysis has determined that: Within the political factors that involve mainly government regulations and safe and security aspects: As Audretsch and Caiazza (2015) argue that “sports events highlight the fact that event legacies cannot be reduced to their economic dimension, but ought to take seriously their social and cultural impacts, both positive and negative.” “In the absence of safe space, a sports event or project is likely to be experienced as exclusionary and alienating by some community groups, and unlikely to transform social relations and produce social change. However, the creation of safe space is not done simply; instead, it requires careful deliberation, planning, and management”. (Audretsch and Caiazza 2015) Within the social-cultural factors that involve mainly stereotypical, educational and environmental issues, as well as religious and ethical beliefs: “Durable benefits, including enhanced fitness and health, travel, an active outdoors lifestyle, and opportunities for socialization with likeminded people, explain why athletes commit to serious leisure careers. Page 12 of 41 “Each event gives participants the impression composed of many individual parts, which include the proximity to the cultural mind set of the participants (i.e. a form of thought corresponds with form of thought of participants), connection to local.” Within the economic factors it mainly involves cost of parking; economic trends; profitability of the event and its productivity within the marketing strategy and rate of inflation: Gratton and Preuss argued in Technology and Economic Impacts of Mega-Sports Events: A Key Issue? Exploratory Insights from Literature by Chanaron (2014), that found “various characteristics of legacy from tangible aspects such as urban planning and sport infrastructure, increased tourism, enhanced international reputation, improved public welfare, additional employment, more local opportunities, better chances for city marketing” Gratton and Preuss in Technology and Economic Impacts of MegaSports Events: A Key Issue? Exploratory Insights from Literature, by Chanaron (2014) also added negatives to the economic impacts, such as debts from constructions, high opportunity costs, infrastructure not needed after the event, temporary crowding, and so on. Within the technological factor that mainly involves good technology infrastructure (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc) that leads to a better production of the product or event and to an effective presentation to capture the target market can find according to this event: “The biggest slice of the entertainment pie is spent on viewing and listening pleasure. Households spend an average of more than $450 a year on televisions, VCRs, videotapes, stereos, musical instruments, recorded music, and assorted accessories” “The single largest entertainment expense is for TV, a fact that reflects the increasing popularity and expense of cable television.” (Professor, School of Public Health, 2015). Page 13 of 41 “Generally we can say that event without a campaign in social media cannot exist. Their effect is many times greater than conventional invitations on the website or on posters. Events promoted through the social media allow the participants to feel that they are part of something big, something that interests a wide range of people. Many individuals registered through the social media to participate in some event often start to act as the advertising in the virtual environment”. (Professor, School of Public Health, 2015). Page 14 of 41 3. Customer Analysis In order to better understand the customers of the Bournemouth Wheels festival, a customer analysis needs to take place. This will include a ‘Customer Journey Map’ that analyses the nature of the attendees, as well as three persona scenarios which helps to analyse the customers touch points. These persona scenarios help identify what the attendees are interested in during the festival. It also helps to highlight what their needs are and to assess their customer experience. This breakdown will then allow the development of a product or service to create an upselling strategy. When it comes to the customer experience there are different ways of thinking about it. One way of regarding the customers experience is via the customer’s participation. Customers can be passive with their participation of an event, this means that their attendance does not actually affect the performance, but they are simply observing the event. This kind of participation can be found with activities such as a symphony. On the other hand, there is active participation. This means that customers have a direct impact on the event and have an effect on the outcome of said event. An event such as this could be an activity like skiing lessons. The other way of looking at the experience is the connection or the environmental relationship that customers get from their event. There are two ends of the spectrum when it comes to looking at a customer’s connection with their event. These two are immersion and absorption; immersion is watching and listening to an activity whereas absorption is actually taking in the events that are surrounding an individual. Examples of this would be that absorption could be a student who is actively making notes and absorbing the information that is being given to them, and immersion would be someone who is watching and listening to a film and getting immersed with the audience as opposed to seeing the film at home. Page 15 of 41 Joseph Pine (No Date) says that there are four realms of experience and that these four realms fall within the spectrum of these two dimensions. The four realms that he describes are aesthetic, escapist, entertainment and educational. Entertainment is the most commonly thought about experience. This kind of experience is generally passive as it tends to be customers absorbing their experience rather than participating, examples of this would be watching television or attending a concert. Educational events are generally more active, however customers/students could also be described as passively participating in the event as they will be immersing themselves. Escapist experiences can also be educational however generally the level of participation is a lot higher, the kind of events that could be described as escapist are things that customers do to have a change in routine of their daily life. Examples of escapist events are acting in a play or skydiving. Both of these involve active participation and also a high level of immersion within the event itself. Aesthetic events are similar to escapist events however there is a lot less participation and a lot more immersion within the event so for example if an escapist event was to abseil the Grand Canyon, the aesthetic counterpart would be a tourist who just goes to view it. 3.1. Trends Events and festivals make up just a small number of activities within the leisure sector. Looking at leisure activity participation (Mintel 2015) it shows a number of trends that are common for the people that participate in leisure activities. These people are commonly men between the age of 18 and 34 years old; peaking at 20-24. They are more likely to be in full time education, or come from higher-income households. The report shows that people with children in their household participate in a range of different types of leisure more than those without. Page 16 of 41 The Bournemouth Wheels Festival is known to be the UK’s biggest free family themed festival, as it contains an action packed programme for family entertainment, as well as a set of safe and security components based along the sea front, creating a family friendly environment. The official Wheels Festival website tell us the percentage of the demographic age groups that attend this type of event (Bournemouth Wheels Festival 2015): 35% FAMILIES 55% COUPLES & SINGLES 55% MALE 45% FEMALE Figure 2: Internet users aged above 16 years interacting with leisure activities Source: Mintel, 2015 According to Mintels Leisure Review (Mintel 2015), the graph above shows how internet users aged above 16 years old interact with leisure venue operators. From the graph it is clear that the main use of interaction is done online by visiting the venue’s website. This information will aid the report to create a product or service that the consumers would primarily interact with. For example, everything should be promoted on the website to reach the maximum number of consumers. Page 17 of 41 3.2 Performance In comparison to other UK motor festivals such as Carfest, the amount of visitors that attended are significantly larger, in 2014 the Bournemouth wheels festivals had visitor numbers in excess of 500,000 in comparison to Carfest which only had around 55,000. Despite this however, because Carfest charges their visitors for the attendance of the festival it would make sense that the festival was a lot more profitable than the Bournemouth wheels festival. While the actual festival itself may have made more money than the Bournemouth wheels festival, the sheer number of visitors that attended the wheels festival meant that in 2014, over £9m was spent in Bournemouth town centre by attendees and by visitors. The success of the Wheels festival did not last however, as in 2015 they experienced a drop in visitor numbers of over 200,000, however despite this loss in visitor numbers, the event organisers have still planned for the 2016 wheels festival with the dates confirmed. The wheels festival also had more visitors in comparison to another major car based event that is the Silverstone Classic event which took place on the 24th July till the 26th July in 2014. The reason for the massive attendance at the Bournemouth wheels festival is not completely clear, however the fact that it is a free event to attend may have been a pull factor for many of those who attended. The festival, although free to attend offers services to its visitors for a price, some of these things include seating for the monster truck shows for £2 per person and also offering rides in monster trucks at £10 per person. Doing things such as this also ensures some profit will be gained from visitors. As previously mentioned, the visitors from this year spent over £9m within the town centre via the use of restaurants and bars etc. Hotels also experienced a good influx of visitors, a hotel in Southbourne opened the weekend of the wheels festival and they were fully booked as a result of the wheels festival. Page 18 of 41 4. Customer Journey Following qualitative research conducted on the attendees of Wheels Festival 2015, SADE was able to develop a Customer Journey Map in Figure 4 as seen below. This shows what people did before, during and after the festival. The qualitative research included an interview as well as a profiling survey which assessed the nature of each attendee; looking at what attracts them most about the festival, and how much they use their mobile devices during everyday activities. Before the festival, it was discovered that most of the attendees used their mobile devices to check the weather forecast. They also looked at the traffic news to see how well they could get to the location. Most attendees arrived within an hour of the first event. The main activities involved just getting ready for the day. During, most people used their mobile devices to take pictures and phone friends for meeting points. They also had lunch by walking into the town centre or finding a spot along the beach to have a packed lunch. After the festival had finished, many people resorted to social media such as Facebook and Instagram to share their experiences with friends and family. This was also the time where people searched for places to eat and drink. Also, most people spent the evening at the beach or in the Lower Gardens before returning home. According to one interviewee, most people ‘hung around’ for hours after the last event finished. As a result of analysing the customer journey, it aided in the development of a product or service to help increase the awareness of the Wheels Festival. A reoccurring activity by most attendees was the use of a mobile device. In this case, an app would be most effective as there is a high guarantee people will easily access this. Another common activity was the desire to find a place to eat and drink. This means, it would be possible to approach restaurants around the town centre to see if they wish to take part in deals or offers alongside the festival. Page 19 of 41 Figure 3: Customer Journey Map of attendees staying in hotels and travelling guests Source: Personal collection 4.1 Attendee Persona Following from the customer journey and the findings from both the research methods and customer analysis; Attendee Personas can be developed to give a much clearer picture of the nature of the attendees at the Wheels Festival. This helps to identify their specific touch points such as their needs, goals, anticipations and problems. Each persona is a fictitious person that is created based on the data collected from the primary research surveys. Therefore it is assumed these people are l likely to attend the 2016 Wheels Festival. This is effective as it is not Page 20 of 41 manipulated by the market researchers and should help direct the plan in the right direction, in order to develop a relevant product or service (Mitsue 2013). The first persona is a 36 year old woman, married, with two children. She requires information about the schedule in order to make plans ahead of the day to make sure she is organised due to her having two children that she needs to look after. She also requires food and drink services which include family restaurants and easy access food stalls. Furthermore, exciting activities are needed to keep the children occupied when the festival has ended. Lastly, she uses social media regularly where she uploads pictures. The second persona is Maureen who is a 65 year old widow. She also requires information about the event times as well as special needs for walking. Her entertainment needs requires places targeted for the older generations such as quiet restaurants and cafes that do not have a fastpaced nature. Her entertainment needs do not require any educational aspects due to her motives only being to participate in leisure activities, and gain a personal experience. The last persona is Joanna who is a student from Spain. She again needs specific details for scheduled events during the festival as she is not from within the UK. Also, she requires language translations for her to gain a more inclusive and personal experience. Furthermore, she spends much of her time on social media, sharing photos to her family back home for them to feel more connected with her. Lastly, her food and drink requirements include bars and restaurants for the younger generations. These may also include fast-food services. Page 21 of 41 Louise: 36 yr old wife and mother of two children Getting information about schedule Time updates Requirements: Schedule regular updates according to weather conditions Food and drink services Looking for restaurant, bar, or cafe Education and entertainment Looking for easy access foods (eg, food stalls) Requirements: Walking distance from the festival with a reasonable price range Exciting activities for children Requirements: Educational games adequate for every age group Working on social media Taking family pictures Personalisation Uploading on social media Requirements: Easy access to personalised pictures through a hashtag Figure 4: Persona 1 Source: Personal collection Page 22 of 41 Maureen: 65 yr old widow Getting information about schedule Actual time updates Requirements: Updates of the program including delays Food and drink services Easy walking access to food and drink services Requirements: A range of food/drink services accessible for elderly people Entertainment Fun games for all ages Requirements: Entertainment that approaches all the audience Figure 5: Persona 2 Source: Personal collection Page 23 of 41 Joanna: 19 yr old exchange student from Spain Getting information about schedule Estimated time of programme: start to finish Requirements: Available in other languages for an inclusive experience Food and drink services Looking for restaurant, bar, or cafe Looking for easy access foods (eg, food stalls) Requirements: Walking distance from the festival with a reasonable price range Education and entertainment Influence of social media channels Finding memorable activities, buying memorabilia Edit/customise for friends Broaden understanding of English culture Uploading to social media Requirements: Active participant involvement with activities in festival Taking photos Requirements: Uploading and sharing photos through hashtag, allowing family to get involved Figure 6: Persona 3 Source: Personal collection Page 24 of 41 5. Analysis of Findings This section of the report will highlight the findings from the research methods as well as the customer analysis. This part of the report will also highlight findings from customer journey. The results from this will be used to develop a pitch which will lead the creation of SMART Communication Objectives. To begin with the results from the research methods, the Bournemouth Matrix discovered that hotels near the beach would have the highest potential in reaching attendees during the Wheels Festival. The reason for this was because over half of the attendees which attended in 2015 travelled from outside of Bournemouth to the festival. This suggested that most of them would be staying in a hotel as the event lasts over three days. To continue, the SWOT analysis showed the festival was very strong with social media coverage. However the weaknesses for the festival were traffic congestion as well as the dependability on the weather during the three days. Even though the festival takes place in summer, poor weather conditions would influence many attendees to either shorten their dwell time or not attend altogether. Moreover, the PEST analysis highlighted there were many issues regarding safety during large events. Also, the economic factors showed there were lots of long term issues such as high levels of debt as a result of construction during the event. There were also lots of high opportunity costs. Moving on to the customer analysis; trends in the demographic age group showed the highest percentage of attendees were males between the age of 18 and 34 years old; peaking at 20-24. These people were more likely to be in full time education, or come from higher-income households. Furthermore, the performance of the festival was overall successful as it had visitor numbers in excess of 500,000 in comparison to Carfest. This also resulted in an increase of £9 million worth of sales in Bournemouth Town Centre during the three day festival. Next, the customer journey identified that a lot of activities were Page 25 of 41 performed on a mobile device such as taking pictures and videos as well as sharing them on social media. Mobile phones were also used to check the weather forecast and the traffic situations. Lastly, common demands from the Attendee Personas included food and drink needs, social media needs as well as the need to be within close proximity to the event from where they are staying during the festival. 5.1 The Pitch After considering the results gathered from the research methods and customer analysis, the report is able to produce a pitch which plans to meet the intended outcome. The pitch aims to create a partnership with the SADE Marketing Agency and hotels along Bournemouth coastline. The aim of this is to enable guests attending the festival to feel as though their experience is extended even when scheduled events are over or before they have begun. Once a collection of hotels have agreed the partnership, the agency plans to provide hotels with: Packed lunch for guests who are Wheels Festival attendees. Facemasks of the famous BMX driver, Ryan Dungey, available for event days. Vehicle toys and activity packs for family rooms. Increased publicity awareness. The reasons for the development of this proposal firstly derives from the Bournemouth Matrix which highlighted that hotels would be best in reaching the festival customers; as over half of the attendees travelled from outside of Bournemouth to take part in the festival. This means that the use of hotels in the next Wheels Festival would be effective in reaching a large audience as these people are likely to stay in hotels. Next, another reason why this proposal was developed was due to the consideration of the ‘threats’ from the SWOT analysis which was the weather. By working with hotels, the pitch would not need to Page 26 of 41 worry about the weather as plans can still take place regardless as everything will be inside. The only negative that arises due to bad weather, would be in decrease in packed lunch sales as attendees would prefer to eat in rather than have a picnic on the beach. Furthermore, according to the Attendee Personas many people used their mobile phones to upload pictures after the event was over. This is why the development of an app was avoided due to the risk of no internet access, and also to avoid people spending time on their mobile devices instead of actually taking part in the festival. This helps to meet the intended outcome of extending the attendees experience. Lastly, the packed lunches will be popular for the guest attendees because it helps promote the marketing message of a ‘stress free day’, as guests do not have the hassle of searching and buying food; giving them more time to enjoy the festival. Page 27 of 41 6. SMART Communication Objectives and Strategy Objective Strategy 1. Reach 50% guests of hotel attending the festival to purchase a packs during guest check-in lunch pack 2. Extend Place specialised leaflets in the welcome Leaving leaflets within bedrooms and communal areas attendee Decorate bedrooms with a Wheels experience during out Festival theme, eg: car toys, towel of shaping the festival scheduled programme Specific wake-up call aimed at attendees providing details for the daily event Restaurant and Bar designed with a Wheels Festival theme. Place ‘Cardboard Cut-out’ displays in each hotel for guests to take pictures with. Place hotel and Wheels Festival logo on each board to advertise both. Place complementary Wheels festival pens in welcome packs. with Send emails advertising the following attendee guests after years programme of the Wheels Festival the once released 3. Stay connected festival encourage to returning and new customers. Sending attendee guests a personalised email with a thank you and promotional offers for the hotel if they fill out a questionnaire. Page 28 of 41 4. Promote the use of the hashtag Place hashtag on welcome packs, cardboard cut-out displays and emails to ‘RoomsOnWheels’ to attendees. increase awareness of Wheels Festival through social media. Table 1: Marketing Objectives Source: Personal collection 6.1 Communication Message Following on from the marketing objectives, the following communication messages have been developed, as shown below: Communicate an extended festival experience before and after the event Communicate a welcoming atmosphere to non-local attendees during the festival Communicate a stress free stay during the festival Page 29 of 41 7. Project Plan / Tactics A project plan has been developed as shown in Table 2. This reflects stage 4 and 5 of the SOSTAC Model (Edward 2015) which highlights the tactics that need to be completed in this specific order. When interpreting Table 5, the blue indicates when the action needs to be completed. It has been highlighted that the Bournemouth Wheels Festival will take place in June 2016 as highlighted in yellow. 2016 2017 Jan Feb Mar April May June July Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Approach participating hotels Order supplies (Lunches, toys, card cut-out) Promotion launching Send welcome emails Send thank you emails/questionnaire Wheels Festival 2017 details Table 2: Project plan Source: Personal collection Page 30 of 41 8. Control With reference to the last stage of the SOSTAC Model known as ‘Control’ (Edward 2015), Key Performance Indicators can be developed to monitor the objectives as seen in Table 4. Marketing Objective KPI 1. Objective 1: Reach 50% of hotel guests Sales attending the festival to purchase a lunch pack figures first year 2. Extend attendee experience during out of the Questionnaire festival scheduled programme for at end of stay at hotel 3. Stay connected with attendee guests after the Welcome and thank festival to encourage returning and new you emails customers 4. Promote the use of the hashtag Monitor ‘RoomsonWheels’ to increase awareness of usage Wheels Festival through social media hashtag on social media Table 3: Key Performance Indicators for ‘Control’ stage of SOSTAC Model (Edwards 2015) Source: Personal collection Page 31 of 41 9. Promotion Strategy What is the Promotion Strategy? Promotion is the method used to spread the awareness of a product or service to customers, stakeholders and the broader public. This is the main source of the marketing mix; used to generate a way that describe the different kinds of choices or methods, organisations undertake in order to reach the desired product or service for the market. The 4Ps (McCarthy 1969) of the marketing mix is used to reinforce this procedure. The 4Ps stand for: Product (or Service) Used to understand exactly what the customers are looking for, and what is needed to satisfy the target audience. What features are required to meet the customer expectations. What will it look like (colour, size), and how will customers experience/use it. What will it be called and how is it branded. How will it stand out from the competitors. Place Where will customers look for this product/service, if it is supplied in a store, if so- what type of store. Online or offline. How can customers access the right channels. What and how competitors feel about the product/service designed, comparing it to what they do and how to differentiate it. Price What is the value of the product/service. Are there certain price points valued within the product/service. Page 32 of 41 Is the customer price sensitive. Will a small decrease in price gain them extra market share, or will it give the customers extra profit margin. What discounts should be offered, if any. How will the price compare with other competitors price. Promotion Where, when, and how can producers get their marketing messages to reach the target market. Will the target audience be reached by online advertising, in press, TV, or radio. When is the best time to promote, considering environmental issues that may arise during the launch of a product or service. How do other competitors conduct their promotion strategy, and how it influences the producer’s choice in promotional activity. Within this Integrated Marketing strategy, the element that was primarily analysed was the Promotional aspect from the marketing mix, as it was used to guide the promotion strategy for the service created. Offline Promotional Strategies: As the Internet is an enormous influence on today’s popularity, marketers refer to other media channels, those that are not connected to the World Wide, as “offline”. Therefore, offline marketing strategies use offline media channels to create awareness of a company’s products or services, such as, radio, print advertising, signs, and television ads. However, offline marketing seems to be linked to online marking. With reference to the service idea created, it is mainly promoted through print media, but it will also be advertised online through the use of the hashtag ‘RoomsOnWheels’. Page 33 of 41 Companies use offline media channels to build enthusiasm about their products and services. However, the first step to succeed in offline marketing is to reach the right target demographic. Customers may read certain magazines, giving the marketers the opportunity to strategically influence their decision buying process by placing advertisements related to their products or services within the magazine. For example, placing the hashtag ‘RoomsOnWheels’ within a car/motorbike magazine. Online Promotional Strategies: Online marketing is a critical but also complex strategy, therefore businesses are enhancing the power of the Internet to promote their products or services and satisfy their consumers in new and innovative ways that are always changing. Marketing as a whole is practiced on the Internet as products and services are positioned, promoted, purchased, distributed, and serviced online; providing consumers with more choice and a bigger influence of power. An online business can improve its value and attention from the consumer, however with regards to the user; the value can be added through a form of entertainment. Therefore it can be said that online marketing provides benefits to both parties. Most companies are getting better at online marketing, however those that lack online marketing are seen as out of date and not worthy of consumers attention, due to the fact that customers focus their products or services on online reviews and eWOM such as online comments. 9.1 Social Media Research shows that many people will interact with leisure through a company’s website (Mintel 2015). This shows the imperative use of an online presence and social media in any marketing campaign. As technology improves the consumer’s accessibility to potentially unofficial information, the Wheels Festival Page 34 of 41 must keep on top of providing factual information that will not only increase the attendee’s involvement with the festival, but also allow them a stress free experience as all information is clearly given. The proposal will focus a hashtag on Twitter with #RoomsOnWheels. This refers both to the Wheels Festival and the Hotel’s rooms. From this, the hotel guests will be able to search on twitter to connect with other attendees, alongside getting information from The Wheels Festival and relevant hotel Twitter accounts. When individuals use this hashtag, whether that be to find information, or when posting a photo- this will have a positive impact on other social media users as electronic word of mouth (eWOM) has a strong impact on the way people will perceive an event (BuzzTalk Blog 2012). Page 35 of 41 10. Marketing Budget Table 4 below highlights the forecasted costs estimated for the production of the products that will be sold during the three day festival. Units Costs Apples - £1.50 x 167 packs 250.50 Bread - £0.89 x 112 99.66 Butter - £2 x 20 40.00 Plain Crisps 12 pack – £2.95 x 84 247.80 Tuna Sandwich Filler - £1.35 x 70 (350 94.50 sandwiches) Ham 5 slice pack - £2 x 70 (350 Sandwiches) 140.00 Cheese 10 Slices -£1.75 x 30 (300 Sandwiches) 52.50 Water Bottles 12 Pack - £2.99 x 84 251.16 Sandwich bags 25 Pack - £0.99 x 40 39.60 14 packs of 36 cars at £5.65 each (504 toy cars) 79.10 75 masks - multibuy deal at 5 for 14.95 224.25 Total 1519.09 Table 4: Budget Source: Personal Collection It will cost SADE £1215.74 to make the Lunch meals. If each lunch is sold at £3, a profit of £1784.26 will be made. On top of this, the children’s activity packs and face masks will cost £303.35, making no profit due to the item’s main purpose of being free memorabilia. Taking all of this into consideration, by subtracting the investment of £1519.09 from the £3000.00, from the packed lunches, SADE will have a total profit of £1480.91.This results in a Return of Investment (ROI) value of 97.5%. Page 36 of 41 11. Conclusion To conclude, by following this integrated marketing communication plan, SADE Marketing should successfully meet the intended outcome of upselling the Bournemouth Wheels Festival, as well as extending the attendees experience, for the following year. The report has critically analysed the customers that visited the Bournemouth Wheels festival in 2014/15 by completing various primary and secondary research, such as interviews with previous attendees and surveys. The bulk of the secondary research has been conducted on websites such as online journals, academic books, as well as looking at Mintel. Furthermore, the report developed three ‘Attendee Persona’ which was derived from the customer journey. This enabled the report to continue in developing SMART marketing objectives, which then aided in the development of the marketing strategy. From this, the report was able to identify the Key Performance Indicators (KPI) which was used to help monitor whether the objectives have met the intended outcome. Moreover, the report summarises three marketing messages which plan to be communicated to the guest attendees before, during, and after the festival. Next the report shows the project plan for the proposed pitch. This highlighted the tactics which needed to be followed step by step during the build up to the next Wheels Festival. After this the promotional strategy was explained, which highlighted the offline and online marketing strategies adapted from the marketing mix. This ensured that the marketing communication plan was successfully integrated. To continue, the plan to use social media as a marketing tool was explained. This included how the use of the hashtag ‘RoomsOnWheels’ is planned to be distributed around the hotels, via welcome pack leaflets, and on the packed lunches that the hotel will provide to customers. Lastly the financial elements were calculated, showing the predicted expenditure of the lunches and the expected revenue. This resulted in a return of investment of 97.5% which shows that the proposal will be successful, and that it will be favourable to the client. Page 37 of 41 12. References Audretsch, D. and Caiazza, R., 2015. Can a sport mega-event support hosting city's economic, socio-cultural and political development? [online]. Available from: http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid=4&sid=38711207-99b940d6-892ed3af987abccc%40sessionmgr4002&hid=4213&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpd mUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d#AN=20153282387&db=lah [Accessed 20 November 2015]. Becker, H., Iter, D., Naaman, M. and Gravano, L., 2012. Identifying Content for Planned Events Across Social Media Sites. 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